1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to transport and movement of information handling systems (IHSes), and more particular to shock pallets for transporting and moving IHSes.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continue to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems (IHSs). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of rack-mounted IHSes can ship hundreds of fully integrated racks a year. Each rack can contain as much as $1 M of Information Technology (IT) hardware. Each rack can range in weight from as little as 700 lbs. to over 3800 lbs. These fully integrated racks are often shipped to an end user/customer and thus must be sufficiently robust to survive the transportation environment as the racks are shipped worldwide by truck, plane and/or boat. A shock pallet is the primary protection provided for the IT hardware in the rack. In addition to providing shock dampening, the width of the shock pallet needs to be wide enough to prevent tipping. For example, to maintain the tip safety factor in packaging for a tall 52 U rack, the width needs to increase significantly over that for a 48 U rack. This increased width reduces by up to 50% the overseas shipping density of rack-mounted IHSes being transported/shipped by air, water and/or over land. Reduced shipping density substantially increases logistics cost.